Kerr County’s celebrity pit bull freed from adoption limbo

Nelson, who recently retired as canine ambassador for Kerr County, is shown on his pillow in the county animal shelter office as Animal Control Officer Mike Wong looks on.

Nelson, who recently retired as canine ambassador for Kerr County,...

Nelson the pit bull has officially retired as Kerr County’s canine ambassador in the care of a former handler, officials said Friday, resolving a situation that upset some dog lovers.

Commissioners were advised Thursday that the popular pooch, who’d ceased appearing at school campuses and community meetings in November due to liability concerns, would be adopted by his most recent handler at the shelter where Nelson had resided in recent years on an office pillow.

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“Nelson is free now to be a loved family member, to live the life companion animals are meant to,” said a post on the Free Nelson page on Facebook, started by Susan Hunter of Bandera County. “This has been a long, tedious process.”

The handler wasn’t named during the presentation by Reagan Givens, who became county director of environmental health and animal services in September.

“He is loved, he is cared for, and this resolution is ideal, above all other options,” Givens said in prepared remarks provided Friday.

County Attorney Heather Stebbins had initially labeled Nelson, a former stray brought to the shelter, as surplus county property, which restricted how the county could dispose of him. Givens said euthanasia was never a consideration.

He became a cause célebre in December when the county set a $2,306 adoption fee for him that was intended to recoup its expenses for a veterinarian bill incurred in 2016 when he was hit by a car while on an official outing.

County Commissioner Jonathan Letz said one individual had indicated a willingness to pay the high fee to adopt Nelson. However, no one applied by the deadline, and the dog was confined to the shelter office until his fate could be decided.

Stebbins later found that service animals, such as dogs trained to sniff for drugs or explosives, are often allowed to retire in their handlers’ care.

“She told me there’s no law saying that’s how you do it, but that’s what other governmental entities have done,” Letz said Friday. “I think it’s the best thing for Nelson. I hope he’ll be happy.”